Recovery Under the Cross

Recognizing our lives have become unmanageable because of our addiction is humbling. That's the point of the first step. It's to humble us, making us ready for step two. As Christians, we call on the Lord in humble faith to restore us to sanity. In our Scripture lesson today, we see a Roman centurion call out to the Lord, Jesus, on behalf of his servant who is sick and close to death. It's in humb...

All too often we think we can make our unmanageable lives manageable again on our own. How wrong we are! In our Scripture reading for today from 2 Kings 5, we find Na'aman, a commander in the king's army, seeking Elisha's help to be cured of leprosy. Na'aman quickly dismissed Elisha's instructions. However, Na'aman would find out God's way is the only way for him to be healed and be brought to fai...

God protects a person's name and reputation in the 8th Commandment.   Addicts have all too often sought to destroy someone else's reputation by lying about the person/people who confront the addict out of love about his/her addiction. Instead of taking the person's word's in the kindest possible way, the addict goes out of his/her way to ruin the other person's reputation as a means of self-preser...

A pastor once told his catechism students, "The 7th Commandment is about protecting 'stuff'." Yes, he said "stuff". The "stuff" the pastor was alluding to were the many spiritual and physical blessings God bestows on all of us. God has blessed us with so many spiritual and physical blessings. Sometime we waste and abuse those blessings to keep our addiction going. In so doing, we steal from God, o...

The Recovery Under the Cross Midweek Meditation series on the 10 Commandments continues with the 6th Commandment: You shall not commit adultery.   The two most obvious ways in which the 6th Commandment is broken are spouses cheating on each other, or unmarried people fornicating.    The 6th Commandment goes deeper than that. Jesus tells us in his Sermon on the Mount that anyone looking at a woman...

Recovery Under the Cross moves forward with the weekly Midweek Meditation series on the 10 Commandments. This week's meditation focuses on the 5th Commandment.   Exodus 20:13: You shall not commit murder. (EHV)   Naturally, murder is the main thing covered in the 5th Commandment. The 5th Commandment also forbids committing bodily harm to others and to ourselves. This week's Midweek Meditation will...

In the larger context of Scripture, the 4th Commandment covers more than obeying our parents. The 4th Commandment includes obeying all of God's representatives - in the home, in the church, in civil government. The last group seems to be the most difficult to honor and obey. It's hard for us to want to honor and obey those in civil government because it seems that so many people who serve in the g...

One consequence of addiction is neglecting God's Word whether it's in our daily lives by letting our devotional life slide or giving up gathering with other Christians to worship God in church.   Today's Midweek Meditation turns our attention to the 3rd Commandment.   Exodus 20:8 Remember the Sabbath day by setting it apart as holy. (EHV)

The Recovery Under the Cross Midweek Meditation series on the 10 Commandments continues with the 2nd Commandment.    Exodus 20:7 You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. (English Heritage Version)   One way we misuse God's name is by using His name to swear needlessly that something we say or do is true. Sometimes we use God's name to swear falsely, that is, to lie.    What a blessing w...

Recovery Under the Cross kicks off a new Midweek Meditation series on the 10 Commandments. For the next 9 weeks, the Midweek Meditation will focus on a commandment per week. The 9th and 10th Commandments will be combined because they both talk about coveting. 1st Commandment: Exodus 20:3, "You shall have no other gods beside me." (English Heritage Version)

Quitting an addiction often leaves a void in what we do to occupy our time. Some people trade one addiction for another. Others find a hobby. Sadly, there are some who don't know how to fill the time void and end up relapsing. Fill the time void with the Holy Spirit coming to you as you read and hear God's Word along with receiving the sacrament of Holy Communion on a regular basis. The blessings...

Had Christ not risen again from the dead, we would have reason to cling to the guilt and shame we feel about the hurt we caused with our addiction. Thanks be to God Christ did rise again from the dead! We are not dead in our sins. Christ's resurrection from the dead proves our salvation from sin, allowing us to let go of our guilt and shame and cling to the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins we hav...

Do you remember your rock-bottom? Have you watched someone else hit rock-bottom because of addiction? Did you feel hopelessness and despair? After watching their teacher suffer and die on the cross, it isn't hard to imagine Jesus' disciples possibly having feelings of hopelessness and despair over the events that transpired between Jesus' arrest in Gethsemane and his crucifixion. Soon enough, thei...

It's no accident Jesus lay in the tomb over the Sabbath after suffering and dying on the cross to pay for all of our sins. The word Hebrew word Sabbath (Shabbat) is used in Genesis chapter two where it says God rested on the 7th day. The word Sabbath means rest. It also means to cease. God ceased his creating activity because God did everything he was going to do for creating the world. Likewise,...

It's easy for our sinful minds to justify our addictive behavior after the sun goes down for the night. The chances of getting caught diminish when we are by ourselves sitting in a dark, dimly lit room. For today's meditation, we go back to Good Friday when darkness covered all the earth. While it was dark, Jesus suffered the full wrath of God as he suffered the punishment of hell for all of our s...

Anyone who has read or listened to the Passion History during Lent know who Judas Iscariot is. Even kids in Sunday School know who Judas is and what he did to betray Jesus the night before he died on the cross. We're no different than Judas. Granted, we didn't betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. We betrayed Jesus for far less than that by betraying him with our sins. Each time we sin and look fo...

This Midweek Meditation was recorded on Ash Wedesday. That means Lent is upon us. Have you ever become bored with Lent? Does it seem to get old that we hear the Gospel account of Jesus making his way from the upper room where he celebrated the passover with his disciples and eventually to the borrowed tomb in which Jesus was laid after dying on the cross? Listen to the warning the apostle John was...

This episode is a continuation of the previous episode. We take a look at Abraham and Sarah, who were lauded for their faith in Hebrews 11, and how they are sinful people just like the rest of us. God chose Abraham and Sarah to be the ancestors of the coming Savior. Things looked bleak for Abraham and Sarah because Sarah was unable to have children of her own. Later on, God would make good on his...

Heroes Have Warts is a new series for Recovery Under the Cross. The series examines select individuals named in Hebrews chapter 11 which is often referred to as the "Heroes of Faith" chapter. The writer of the book of Hebrews highlights many examples of familiar names from the Old Testament who lived by faith in God and his promise for a Savior from Sin. Though heralded as heroes of faith, the peo...

God demonstrates His almighty power by taking broken, sinful people like us to carry a priceless treasure - the message of Christ crucified and risen again from the dead to take away the sins of the world. What an awesome privilege our God bestows on us!

Host Tim Gray offers his reflections on Recovery Under the Cross and announces what's coming up in future episodes.

Self-Control and Addiction are completely opposite of each other. How can I, as a recovering alcoholic, have any sense of self-control? It's only by the grace of God and with the help of God that we can even begin to exercise self-control. Because of what God's own Son, Jesus Christ our Savior, did for us by taking away all of our sins that the Holy Spirit comes to us in God's Word and Sacrament t...

Merry Christmas! In this Christmas Episode, we marvel at the Word Incarnate, Jesus Christ, becoming flesh and dwelling among us. Jesus, as true God and true man all at the same time, is the perfect Savior we needed to take away our sins. Jesus was tempted in every way we are tempted, but never sinned. He bore upon himself the sins of the world, washing them away with his blood shed on the Cross. H...

Confronting someone about open sin isn't easy. You might have butterflies in your stomach because you don't know how the person might react, or you're nervous because you don't know how you'll react to the person's reaction. God calls on us to speak with someone caught up in sin with a spirit of gentleness and humility. It's too easy for us to confront someone with a I'm-better-than-you attitude w...

The next Fruit of the Spirit a believer in Jesus has that's listed in Galatians 5:22,23 is faithfulness. Faithfulness involves commitment, staying true to someone or something. Our reading from Joshua encourages us to be faithful to God and to serve him. We serve God by loving and serving one another because God loved us first.